'Kingdom' creator on crafting a gritty family drama in the MMA world

October 8, 2014 5:55 PM

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When Byron Balasco tells people that his new show Kingdom is about Mixed Martial Arts, their response tends to be, “Oh, so it’s a reality show?” It’s not a wild notion, considering that we live in a world with very few (if any) scripted shows about MMA. But for Balasco, the idea never seemed far-fetched.

“I had been a fan of MMA for years and years and years, way back even before it became what it is, like 10-12 years ago even,” Balasco said. “And it always seemed like a great place to set a show because it’s such an interesting cross-section of characters. It’s people from a lot of different backgr...